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Keith Pierce

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American astronomer (1918-2005)

Keith Pierce
Pierce in 1992
BornAustin Keith Pierce
(1918-10-02)October 2, 1918
Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
DiedMarch 11, 2005(2005-03-11) (aged 86)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Alma mater
Spouses
Mildred Buell ​(m. 1941)​
Trudy Griffin ​(m. 1979)​
Children3
Scientific career
FieldsSolar astronomy
Institutions
Thesis Photographic and Photo-electric Profile of the Fraunhofer Line Mg B Lambda 5184  (1948)
Doctoral advisorC. Donald Shane

Austin Keith Pierce (October 2, 1918 – March 11, 2005) was an American solar astronomer. Pierce played a key role in the development of the McMath–Pierce solar telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

Biography

Austin Keith Pierce was born October 2, 1918, in Tacoma, Washington. His father, Tracy Pierce, was a mathematician at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and an amateur astronomer.

From 1936 to 1938, he studied at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley where in 1940 he obtained a BSc in astronomy. In 1941 he married Mildred Buell, with whom he went on to have three children.

During the Second World War, Pierce worked on uranium isotope separation as part of the Manhattan Project, first at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and then at Oak Ridge in Tennessee.

In 1945 he returned to Berkeley, obtaining his doctorate in 1948 under C. Donald Shane. He then worked at the University of Michigan for astronomer Robert McMath. McMath obtained federal funding for a large solar telescope and chose Pierce to lead the project. Pierce gained observing experience at the Mount Wilson and McMath–Hulbert solar observatories and toured European solar observatories to inform the design of the new telescope.

Kitt Peak Observatory was chosen for the site so in 1958 Pierce and his family relocated to Tucson, Arizona. Upon completion in 1962 the McMath solar telescope was the largest solar telescope in the world.

Pierce would direct the solar division of Kitt Peak for 16 years. In 1979 he married medical anthropologist Trudy Griffin. In 1992 the McMath telescope was rededicated as the McMath–Pierce Solar Telescope.

Pierce died of cancer on March 11, 2005, in Tucson, Arizona.

References

  1. ^ "Trudy Griffin-Pierce and Keith Pierce Papers, 1938-2009". Special Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries. University of Arizona. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  2. ^ Livingston, William Charles (December 1, 2006). "Obituary: A. Keith Pierce, 1918 - 2005". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 38 (4): 1281–1282. Bibcode:2006BAAS...38.1281L. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023 – via Astrophysics Data System.
  3. ^ William, Livingston; Harvey, John (July 2005). "Obituary: A. Keith Pierce 1918–2005". Solar Physics. 229 (2): 199–201. Bibcode:2005SoPh..229..199L. doi:10.1007/s11207-005-5374-y. ISSN 0038-0938. S2CID 117367803.
  4. ^ "Dr. A. Keith Pierce Passes Away" (Press release). Boulder, Colorado: National Solar Observatory. March 23, 2005.
  5. ^ Livingston, William; Harvey, John (September 1, 2005). "Austin Keith Pierce". Physics Today. 58 (9): 76. Bibcode:2005PhT....58i..76L. doi:10.1063/1.2117836. ISSN 0031-9228.
  6. Revere, C. T. (March 12, 2005). "Scientist Pierce pinpointed Kitt Peak as astronomy site". Tucson Citizen. p. 4. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  7. Minard, Anne (March 13, 2005). "Kitt Peak observatory founder, astrophysicist Pierce dies". Arizona Daily Star. p. 31. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
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